NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP)  A gunman wearing body armor opened fire at a strip club early Tuesday, killing two people and injuring several others before being fatally shot himself, authorities said.

The shooter walked into the Foxy Lady around 2:30 a.m. with a high-powered rifle and a semiautomatic weapon, police Capt. Richard Spirlet said.

Spirlet confirmed three people were killed and two police officers who had been working security were among several people injured. It was not immediately clear if the gunman shot himself or was shot by police.

Police cars riddled with bullet holes were parked in the street outside.

Club owner Tom Tsoumas said the gunman had been told to stay away after a failed relationship with a bartender. The two victims were his nephew, who managed the club, and another employee, he said.

"We had told this young man not to come near the club," Tsoumas told WBZ-AM. He said the first person shot was the man who had told the shooter he wasn't allowed in the club. "He said, 'This isn't the place for you. She doesn't want to see you. It's only going to cause problems.' And he went away, but he evidently came in last night."

Mayor Scott Lang said the shooter died of a self-inflicted wound, but police said there was an exchange of gunfire with officers and they would not confirm the shooter killed himself.

Police did not immediately release the names of the victims.

The mayor said the gunman, who "caused absolute havoc in our city," was not from New Bedford.

"It looks like someone who clearly was not in his right state of mind," Lang said.

Cab driver Nick Santiago said he was passing the club and saw two women pulling a bloodied man out the front door, while a man wearing a black suit and bulletproof vest held a gun to the women as he propped the door open for them.

"I saw two girls screaming, telling the guy who had the gun not to shoot them," Santiago said. "Obviously, the gunman saw me and told me to get the hell out of there before I get shot."

Santiago said that as he drove away he saw police approaching, then heard multiple gunshots. When he stopped at a nearby gas station, two women who had fled the club ran to his cab, he said.

The women, who Santiago said were strippers, told him the shooter was a frequent customer who had been denied entry to the club.

Police said several other people were wounded but did not give details. A spokeswoman for St. Luke's Hospital did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

New Bedford, an historic whaling town of nearly 100,000 residents in southern Massachusetts, was the site of another bar shooting in February when an 18-year-old armed with a hatchet and gun seriously injured three men in a gay bar. That attacker fled and later killed two people in Arkansas before fatally shooting himself.

In October, a 21-year-old man was charged with attempted murder for allegedly trying to run down two police officers outside the Foxy Lady after an altercation in the club.

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Officials work outside the Foxy Lady after Tuesday's shooting. Police said several other people were wounded but did not give details. A spokeswoman for St. Luke's Hospital did not immediately return calls seeking comment.